Itinerary help with 2 year old

[flyiguy]

Hello everyone, long time lurker first time poster. After reading through all the help and great advice given on this board for a month, we are looking for help. The DW and I will be headed from Detroit to the MK with our DS 2 (25mths & 36in) from Sun 12/9 evening- Thur. 12/13 evening. We will be staying off property at Ditka Runaway Beach and have a rental car. We have both been to WDW before in the past although well before our DS came along. Our main question is what would be a good itinerary of parks during out stay and are there any rides to avoid that our DS 2 may freak out on (or rides that are a must). He does get scared easily by new things and we want to be selective on which parks we attend and how long we stay at each park to avoid burnout. We didn’t plan on going to any parks the first or last days, so that leaves 3 full days. DS loves going to the zoo, so AK is a must. Thanks a bunch for any comments or suggestions, what a great website with helpful people. One week to go, we’re so excited!

 

[goofygal531]

We've always stayed on site, so for a detailed itinerary, I can't really give you one. When we feel the family has had enough, we head back to the resort for a break then head out again in the evening.

When my son was 2 the craziest things excited him. He loved running over the bridge from the Crystal Palace to Adventure Land - over and over and over again. He loved all the fountains and especially the puddles. My point here is we were so upset that anything entertained him. Here we're in WDW so excited for him and he wanted to play with the simplist things. So just expect that.

My son at 2 year old was somewhat fearless the only thing that startled him was the 3D rides. Too loud. He loved the Tiki Birds (which I found scary at times), he loved the pirates, and all the other rides in MK. The only one we still haven't done with him is Mickey's Philharmonic because now I have a 9month old that I thought would get scared. One word of caution, watch out on Peter Pan, since your elevated, if your not holding on to him tight he can slip out from under the protective bar. We rode that once and never again until my youngest is older.

At this age, I would make sure to plan character meals. They get to spend so much more time with the characters. Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's are two of our favorites.

AK make sure to get a fastpass ASAP for the safari. He'll enjoy it. My kids also loved seeing the animals on the walking trails. They also LOVE the Pocohantas show, for our family it's a must see several times.

EPCOT my son loves the interactive kids computers in Innovations. I on the other hand get bored in there, but he and DH love it. Nemo is also a huge hit for the little ones. Oh and the boat ride at The Land.

MGM is not a favorite of ours with little kids, not really a lot to do. Play and Dine with the Little Einsteins at Hollywood and Vine was the highlight of my son's vacation. He has a crush on June and I told her and it was just so cute. She made such a fuss over him and we got really cute pictures. JoJo was amazing with the baby. She picked him up and played with him for 15 mins. Playhouse Disney is a must, although it's not current (they're updating it in Jan). We did the backstage tour and no one was scared, they enjoyed the tram ride. Other than that, we lasted about 3 hours at MGM. Go there at night and see the Spectacle of Lights - that was amazing!

DownTown Disney (DTD) is alot of fun for the little ones. My kids love the fountains, the lego store and of course the Once Upon a Toy Store. Rain Forest Cafe (RFC) is also a great place to dine with little ones.

Overall, once we had kids, the itinerary went out the window. Everything is about them. Where they want to dine, go, etc... I make reservations and half the time our plans change. My son loves eating hot dogs at Casey's and Pizza at Pizza Planet. DH truly misses the days of dining at the Brown Derby. Secretly, we dream of the days when the boys are in college and we can take trips to WDW without them!

In your case, I would just plan to spend a day at MK, AK and split your last day between a morning at MGM and afternoon at EPCOT. Go to DTD in the evenings.

Should you plan any fireworks, MK is nice for the kids. EPCOT is way too loud and will really scare him. The parades are beautiful everywhere but you might be worn out by parade time (we usually are).

Edited to add: Before my son's first trip to WDW, I bought him all the Disney Sing Along DVDs. Especially the "Disneyland Fun" one. It's a day in MK (CA, but he doesn't know) with the characters going on rides with kids. He loves it and watches it still after 4 years! It got him really comfortable with the characters. I think that's a bigger issue than the rides. Some kids freak when they see a 6 Foot tall mouse, my son ran to him and hugged his legs!

Hope that helps somewhat. Have fun!
Mare

 

[Marc A.]

My daughter was 3 1/2 when we just went in October. She loved all of the princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, etc.. She was terrified of Pluto and a little of Donald but overall she loved the characters. I agree you should plan Character meals. My daughter needed time to get used to the fireworks, we brought ear plugs and they really helped.
Let us know how it went. We are planning on going back late next year w/ our little one too (he'll be 28 months old).
Have fun and just wing it.
BTW, on site really helped.

 

[ajcolorado]

I agree with you about Disney's Animal Kingdom - it is a great park, whatever your age.

I think Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, & Epcot have the most to offer families with small children. Disney MGM- Studios is fine if your kids have the attention span necessary to watch shows.

Here's a link with December events and crowd warnings:
http://www.squidoo.com/WaltDisneyWorldDecember2007/


Here's a link to an article about Epcot with little ones:
http://www.buildabettermousetrip.com/article-epcot-with-young-children.html

 

[crazykids]

We were just there a few months ago w/ our 3 little ones, ages 20 months, 3, & 4. All 3, while into different things because of age, did very well.

The 20 month old went on a ton of rides, her favorite being Small World & Pirates of the Carribean. She loved the characters from a distance, but was frightened if they came close. Princesses were fine for her since they were not wearing a mask. She loved all of the 3D shows & she watched Wishes at MK w/ out incident & slept through it two other times. Illuminations scared her the first time since it is loud, but we watched it later in the trip & she was fine with it. She was also fine w/ Fantasmic. MK was definitely the favorite by all, Epcot went well, but the kids were bored w/ the countries. Don't pass up the boat rides in Mexico & Norway. Future World has quite a few attractions that would be suitable for a 2 year old. Everyone enjoyed the safari ride at Animal Kingdom, but other than that & I think the train ride, there really aren't any other rides for the 2 year old. Plenty of shows & of course the animals will occupy the other time at this park. MGM is mostly made of shows, if your child can sit through these, there is plenty to do at this park. We went to tons of character meals & attempted all of the parades, again these all went over well.

Each child is different, only you really know what your child can tolerate. We planned what park we would visit each day, but that was the extent of the planning. I would definitely suggest using a stroller, it is way too much walking for a two year old & if you're lucky, they will nap in there as well. I'm headed back in a couple months & I'm bringing both my 2 & 3 year olds by myself, so trust me, don't be nervous!

 

[Marc A.]

I forgot to mention at Epcot try to get as passport so that your child can get a stamp from each country. My DD loved that and the person at each Kidcot spot was always very nice and helpful. The masks that can be decorated do keep the little ones occupied while the parents can enjoy a beverage or snack.

 

[poohj80]

We traveled with our 19 month DD in Sept and thought we had WDW with her down but she chanegd the rules on us. Last trip, she enjoyed the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and rain puddles at MGM, the playground in Toontown, the fountains at Epcot, and the resort pool most. AFter a long car ride the day before, she did not want to stay in the stroller or a highchair to eat - she just wanted to run.

 

[flyiguy]

I just wanted to say a Big Thank You to everyone that has replied. Each post has some great ideas and suggestions. I know that just being there is going to be the best part, but we're so happy to go there with some nice tips and everything else possible seemed to be coved on the DISboards.

 

[GoinToDisney]

I have not read the other replies, but I wanted to quickly chime in. We took my dd when she was about 2 1/2 last year. she loved spectro magic parade... all of the parades really and loved wishes. Her favorite ride ended up being the pooh ride, which she hated at first. We didn't prepare her ahead of time that it would be dark inside the rides and that you get to bounce with tigger on the pooh ride. I had her sitting next to me, and she didn't like the bouncing part. The next time, I had her on my lap and she liked it better. Once she was used it the bouncing and knew that it would be dark in there, she wanted to ride again and again. I think we rode 5-6 times during our stay. She still talks about it a year later. I wish I had known to tell her that the rides were dark, but she was never afraid of the dark before that. I explained that they make the rides nice and dark so that you can see all the pretty colors better and that helped. She LOVED It's a small world. She called it the happy house! That is a good first ride. It's dark, but not too dark. I would go on youtube and let your ds watch some of the rides on there. Then he will be prepared a little. We are going again in Feb and will skip Fantasmic. The Nemo show at Animal Kingdom is a MUST. They gloss over the scary parts pretty well. I will cover her eyes for the scary angler fish at Epcot on the Nemo ride (she hated that and I didn't know to expect it), if we even go on it. I will skip Haunted mansion. She is too old to think the ghosts are just silly... she comprehends too much this year and will dream about it.

As far as which parks, if I had 3 days, I would do 2 at Magic Kingdom and 1 at Animal Kingdom. My dd was not really into the masks and they use sharpies markers to decorate them anyhow. I had her in all her cute homemade disney outfits and wasn't prepared for that.

Have fun, and my biggest tip is don't get discouraged if he seems afraid of the rides at first. Try to acknowledge fear without playing into it. The more you explain why it is dark (or whatever) the better it is for my dd. Have fun. You'll be surprised at how much fun he will have. Also, when we go, we don't like to go back for breaks/naps... never works out right for us. We just find a quiet place in the park to relax for a while. DD would fall asleep in the stroller and dh and I would child swap the big rides or just find a quiet place to sit down and rest. We also took our time with meals and sat for a while. That way, we could still have energy for the spectro parade and wishes.